Listening to Farage this morning on R4 Today, I noticed one tiny thing. He didn't want to dwell at all on the fact that his policy of Zero Net Migration = 500,000+ new arrivals every year (matching the departures). That's 5 million per decade. He minimally acknowledged and moved away immediately.
For the right there are two big issues about inward migration; the numbers causing housing/services problems, and secondly the 'cultural' issues.
Net Zero migration may address the Reform voter's problem with the first, but not the second. Has anyone noticed this? I don't think Farage wants it mentioned. Which of course means no-one in the political domain does.
I mean, it's also because nobody wants to make the argument for solving the first crisis without worrying about immigration - investment. We could invest in better infrastructure, more schools, doctors, houses etc. and still have immigration.
Farage is happy to push on those issues because that is what has been gifted to him by the neoliberal turn. People seem to forget that Corbyn's policies were still quite popular with a large portion of the population - he was just so unpopular that negative polarisation held together a coalition for the Tories. When Johnson said he'd turn on the spending spigot with Levelling Up, the Tories won in Labour heartlands. As long as the state keeps arguing it has no resources to care for average people, people will grow resentful.
Someone like Farage will aim that resentment towards the foreigner, people like Leon towards "wokeness". I would argue the left (correctly) turns that ire on capitalists - as they are the dragons of fable sitting on their hordes of wealth. The immigrant doing what humans have always done, move around the world when they need to, is not in a position of power to affect the poor state of our country. The "woke" who are just asking for historic injustice to be recognised, acknowledged and no longer perpetuated don't hold the levers of power. Those who do have power and influence in our politic are those who are wealthy, who own companies, who demand less regulation etc. etc. They are the ones who have been catered to in the last 30-40 years, and that is the reason for our decline. And no one who benefits from that system is going to stand up and point that out. So Farage is a useful tool - because when he points at shadows and calls them phantoms people don't look at the real causes of the problem.
The 100,000+ white underage English girls raped by racist Muslim grooming gangs might have a claim they were *a tiny bit affected* by migration
The idea that there are 100s of thousands of young girls victimised by immigrants is another right wing fantasy -
We know who is actually the most likely perpetrator of sexual assault - someone within the close family or a family friend of the victim, followed by someone with a position of authority in their community (a priest, a teacher, etc.). Again - this is a projection of the right who look at patriarchal family structure as something that must be protected and, unwilling to accept that that structure leads to more sexual assault, says it must be the foreigner, the outsider, the Other who is really to blame. Is that to say there are literally 0 cases of immigrants committing sexual assault or rape? Of course not. But the idea that it is endemic, or even common, is preposterous. It's the same old "got to keep our white women safe" rhetoric of days gone by.
And even if it were true - this would still be an infrastructure problem because the justice system is part of the social infrastructure that has been destroyed by austerity. Do the police take sexual assault or rape seriously? No.
And then when it comes to getting a court date and a trial, of course, the massive backlog of serious crimes is largely due to massive underfunding by central government
Now the likes of you may want to save money by doing away with "lefty lawyers" and "fair trials" and just flog and hang anyone who looks shifty - I personally think it matters to have things like evidence and proof and due process. And those things take resources.
Except that the LABOUR MP for Rotherham thinks it may be as high as a million. And I have a tiny idea she might know more than you. Don’t you?
So 100,000 is actually and tragically conservative
So your citation is one MP in the Mirror from 2015 saying it "could be" as high as a million kids being sexually assaulted by Muslim grooming gangs; what I have cited is a summary of a Home Office report from 2020 that was directly aimed at investigating those claims which shows how that is not the case:
We can also see how some of the issue is straight up victim blaming by the cops, with reports from stories like this where "The inquiry into the Telford abuse scandal, which published its report in 2022, found police dismissive of claims of abuse, with one saying "these girls had chosen to go with, I don't know, 'bad boys'".https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65174096
Again, grooming gangs happen and sexual assault happens and it is awful - but none of this suggests it is a problem predominantly of immigrant populations nor would it be solved by stopping immigration, because if you did stop immigration you'd still have the issue of most people committing sexual assault against girls and women being white British, and the issue of the police not giving a shit because they are institutionally misogynistic.
I also find it very interesting how the man who cries about wokeness all the time is claiming to care about sexual assault of women - is feminism not woke? Was the movement to hold powerful men accountable for their sexual crimes not woke? Or is it just that when you can pin sexual crimes on black and brown skinned people you want to claim you care about women?
1400 girls were raped/abused/tortured in Rotherham according to the official report. Rotherham has a population of 260,000, about 0.3% of the UK. We know this pattern of rape and grooming has occurred all across the UK - basically wherever it is sought, it is found
300 x 1400 = 420,000
I’ve reduced it by 75% so you don’t have conniptions; you can thank me later
These are arse numbers - these are numbers you pull out of your arse. Because that's the only way to make any of your positions make sense.
And it still doesn't tackle the underlying issue - even in the world where your numbers are correct: immigrants are not the majority of perpetrators. So how do we deal with that? We would need to... increase infrastructure spending on criminal justice, community building, outreach and education (including sex education to kids, as it is the best proven method of kids being able to talk about being assaulted), empowering women and children, etc. etc. all of these things you would call the woke nanny state intervening in the business of the family, no?
Look, you just want to go "I'm out here protecting the innocence of my white women". I know you do. You have to make arse numbers up to try and justify it but really, at the end of the day, we both not what you're saying.
Do you think it's important to look at per capita rates of offending rather than just raw numbers?
It can be, but as was pointed out by one of the summaries and the criticism that this issue is under policed - the demographics who are over represented are also the demographics who are over policed and were indeed targeted specifically for this kind of policing after these allegations. But, again, even if they are over represented in the statistics based on their representation in population it doesn't change the underlying point - the one that started this whole conversation.
Blocking immigrants from coming in the country does not solve the issue - it is just a good scapegoat for the problem. To deal with sexual abuse properly would require campaigning and resources - things that are not provided for under the ideology of cuts cuts cuts to anything, especially if it can be construed as "woke", which I'm sure these things would be.
I thought the whole point of Rotherham, Rochdale etc was that the perpetrators had been under-policed - i.e. largely left to their own devices, and the victims told to go away?
Yes. In some cases the police threatened the complainers with action - against the complainer - if they didn’t stop making allegations.
In one case a step-father (I think it was) was told by the police that if he continued with the allegations, he would be put on a register of racists, then the council would use the anti-social neighbours rules to have his family thrown out of their council house.
Everyone in Britain should just emigrate. Seriously. Whole place is a shithole now and the only tolerable bits are certain nice parts of london and the inner Hebrides
Just get out. It’s ruined. The lefties ruined it
Join me on my endless travels around the world. There is a lot of world out here and it’s fun!
England is mostly okay outside the crowded south-east.
I thought the only reason the South East was crowded was because it's swamped with people desperate to escape the decaying, crime-ridden, impoverished North.
I don't think I'm being overly parochial to say that the North of England is the most beautiful part not only of England, but of the world. Around 40% of our geography (too keen to make a point to check exact figure) is made up of our four and a half national parks, with a good chunk more being any one of the multiple AONBs.
Without wanting to deride the countryside around the southern half of the M1 and M6, it's not terribly exciting. But it's most northerners idea of what the south looks like (also a noisy traffic jam across Bromford Viaduct.)
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
What is the timing for the demise of the Maldives out of interest.
It’s not a good sign if candidates are abandoning the fight whatever the reasons. Suggests that not everything will be plain sailing on the good ship Starmer.
Not really - I can see something that sounds like a great idea in theory quickly becomes a problem in reality - Great on her to realise it so early..
It's alleged conduct not conduct. That's important.
Labour have done the right thing suspending, as they have time to appoint a new candidate.
Some corners of UK politics are filthy enough that such allegations can be faked up and used to knock people out of the game. That happened to Jason Zadrozny in 2015, when he was a real possibility for Ashfield MP for the Lib Dems. I'm very critical of his current behaviour, but he has my sympathy for 2015.
Old sexual rumours miraculously reappeared shortly before the Election in the press and he had to stand down.
The CPS / Police kept him hanging for 2 years under investigation then collapsed their case at the door of the Court.
I make no comment on the Barking case.
Didn't something similar happen to Lloyd Russell-Moyle, an old accusation brought to light at a convenient time. The specifics of which we do not know and I am not implying anything in that respect, just drawing a parallel. Also raised at a time where the candidate has no time to really defend themselves.
I think he was poorly treated and stitched up.
He's been suspended I think.
I am not aware of the details of that one.
No, they have not been revealed. It is an old allegation apparently, and remarkably convenient timing to allow a guy called Chris Ward to be parachuted in.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
But I don't think they would predate on the deer enough. We need big predators that would not only cull numbers but change deer behaviour and make them more worried around open spaces and watering holes and such. The issue of deer is not just their numbers, but their grazing habits and the erosion they cause by not really acting in ways they would of when they did have predators. Their numbers alongside this behaviour change is what makes the impact so much worse.
I've read things from people in the know who think that Lynx would do the job.
The way I'd view it use that Lynx would be the best way to start, and sort out issues to do with livestock predation, and confidence-building with farmers. And then it's easier to make the case for other predators later.
The random capitalisation of a species made me think you were talking about deodorant.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 22m Told Tory MPs phoning senior Reform officials pleading with them to withdraw candidates in their seats. Meanwhile Red Wall MPs outraged at "wet" Tory candidates being parachuted into safe seats. It's starting to come apart.
He lost me at "Told" which is up here with "I'm hearing that" or "Sources at...say" in terms of unverifiable gossip. As we know, Twitter is the modern grapevine only much more effective and insidious.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
But I don't think they would predate on the deer enough. We need big predators that would not only cull numbers but change deer behaviour and make them more worried around open spaces and watering holes and such. The issue of deer is not just their numbers, but their grazing habits and the erosion they cause by not really acting in ways they would of when they did have predators. Their numbers alongside this behaviour change is what makes the impact so much worse.
I mean a wolf killing a deer would be a pretty long, drawn out, bloody, and painful affair do you really want to include that one deer rather than a single bullet.
It's not like a pack of hounds killing a fox which was a super efficient means of pest control.
But like I said, this isn't just about culling, it's about changing deer behaviour to be less damaging. Human hunting isn't something that keeps deer on edge and anxious like having natural predators does. Anxiety reduces breeding, reduces congregating in certain spots, makes spooking behaviour more pronounced. Short of sending out people tasked with guns to mow deer down, even if we increase hunting licenses for deer, I don't see human action making enough of a dent.
And the issue with animal suffering and efficiency and such is less to do with the existence of it; nature is, as Darwin noted, cruel and painful and inefficient. But as humans we have created an understanding of morality where we want to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering. To me that includes eating factory farmed meat or the tearing apart of a fox by dogs for the amusement of some toffs. That doesn't preclude me from wanting to bring back extinct predators (to potential benefit of the environment and biodiversity as a whole) if it also helps deal with other man made problems.
If only animals understood irony.
As it was being eaten alive - because that's how it works - the deer could ponder that such a death inflicted upon it was to satisfy your social ethical imperative while dreaming of being killed near-instantly by a pack of hounds or marksman's bullet.
Look, nature tooth and claw. I don't think meat eating is inherently morally wrong as a human - I just think when we can sustain ourselves without harming animals and the method by which we do mass meat farming is contributing to massive deforestation and ecological destruction that it's a bad idea. If you keep chickens in your back garden and decide to eat them when they start getting old, or if you're poor and have no other choice, that's fine.
I'm not an Auditor from the Discworld, demanding that all life stop to preserve order or my idea of what is moral. The natural world is immoral. Humans are able to stand against the pressures of nature in ways basically all other animals cannot, and we have the luxury and capability of developing and acting in moral ways.
And a worthy sentiment. But we can't or choose not to. In the same way as it is absurd to breed and then eat living creatures then it is equally absurd for those who object to eating animals to step on ants.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 22m Told Tory MPs phoning senior Reform officials pleading with them to withdraw candidates in their seats. Meanwhile Red Wall MPs outraged at "wet" Tory candidates being parachuted into safe seats. It's starting to come apart.
Fuck me he's an hysterical old twit. Dan Hodges, redefining mewling bed wetter for the 2020s
He’s a journalist looking for a story. Nowt wrong with that
And if his info is even halfway right then that’s fascinating
He's not looking for a story, his feed is nothing but increasingly hyperbolic claims of imminent apocalypse. And has been for weeks. The Civil War will play out after the election. As is normal with defeated entities
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
What is the timing for the demise of the Maldives out of interest.
Uninhabitable by the end of the century, most likely. Possibly a bit longer with major sea defences, but those probably won't be economically viable. In the long run, evacuation is the only realistic option.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
I mean that’s just not true. All sensible projections based on agreed measures get you to 2 or 2.5. Even if it was 3, 3 is fine. We’ve averted the truly catastrophic, and actually I think technology will see us do even better.
It’s not a good sign if candidates are abandoning the fight whatever the reasons. Suggests that not everything will be plain sailing on the good ship Starmer.
Paper candidate in an unwinnable seat, Lib Dem Gain I reckon, for Witney.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Seeing as it couldn't be bought on Trainline (see above) an hour of my time was well spent avoiding travelling without a ticket (I am travelling at 5.13 am before the ticket office is open) and there was no other way of getting a ticket.
Honestly you can't type anything here these days without being put in your place as if you are an idiot.
I'm not an idiot. I do buy online. I also have a station 5 min away and it made obvious sense to go there when there was an obvious problem buying the ticket. That problem continued at the station for an hour while the guy was on the phone trying to sort it.
What smart alec is going to come out with the next suggestion of what I should have done.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
But I don't think they would predate on the deer enough. We need big predators that would not only cull numbers but change deer behaviour and make them more worried around open spaces and watering holes and such. The issue of deer is not just their numbers, but their grazing habits and the erosion they cause by not really acting in ways they would of when they did have predators. Their numbers alongside this behaviour change is what makes the impact so much worse.
I mean a wolf killing a deer would be a pretty long, drawn out, bloody, and painful affair do you really want to include that one deer rather than a single bullet.
It's not like a pack of hounds killing a fox which was a super efficient means of pest control.
But like I said, this isn't just about culling, it's about changing deer behaviour to be less damaging. Human hunting isn't something that keeps deer on edge and anxious like having natural predators does. Anxiety reduces breeding, reduces congregating in certain spots, makes spooking behaviour more pronounced. Short of sending out people tasked with guns to mow deer down, even if we increase hunting licenses for deer, I don't see human action making enough of a dent.
And the issue with animal suffering and efficiency and such is less to do with the existence of it; nature is, as Darwin noted, cruel and painful and inefficient. But as humans we have created an understanding of morality where we want to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering. To me that includes eating factory farmed meat or the tearing apart of a fox by dogs for the amusement of some toffs. That doesn't preclude me from wanting to bring back extinct predators (to potential benefit of the environment and biodiversity as a whole) if it also helps deal with other man made problems.
If only animals understood irony.
As it was being eaten alive - because that's how it works - the deer could ponder that such a death inflicted upon it was to satisfy your social ethical imperative while dreaming of being killed near-instantly by a pack of hounds or marksman's bullet.
Look, nature tooth and claw. I don't think meat eating is inherently morally wrong as a human - I just think when we can sustain ourselves without harming animals and the method by which we do mass meat farming is contributing to massive deforestation and ecological destruction that it's a bad idea. If you keep chickens in your back garden and decide to eat them when they start getting old, or if you're poor and have no other choice, that's fine.
I'm not an Auditor from the Discworld, demanding that all life stop to preserve order or my idea of what is moral. The natural world is immoral. Humans are able to stand against the pressures of nature in ways basically all other animals cannot, and we have the luxury and capability of developing and acting in moral ways.
And a worthy sentiment. But we can't or choose not to. In the same way as it is absurd to breed and then eat living creatures then it is equally absurd for those who object to eating animals to step on ants.
There is obviously a difference in the degree of sentience of the animal in question. Very few people would argue that stepping on an ant is equivalent to, say, torturing a monkey to death.
Err - there is no difference. She wants the world to have no nuclear weapons. The policy is for the UK to have nuclear weapons because other countries, including realistic potential enemies, have them. She agrees with the policy, her desire on something that is not going to happen in our lifetimes is irrelevant.
Brooke is increasingly unbearable on this forum. He writes stupid things, is often weirdly creepy with it, and seemingly cannot be bothered to check his facts.
Edit: and he also refuses to use punctuation. Which is even worse.
Graham's union spends millions bankrolling the Labour Party. And then she herself actively campaigns against electing a Labour government, by trying to undermine its campaign pledges and joining the Conservatives in trying to foster disillusionment with politicians generally amongst working people.
Likewise I don't mind Abbott being confirmed as a candidate, in fact I welcome it because proper process matters. It should have been the end of the matter. But no, then Abbott can't help herself and posts her "Starmer lies again" tweet, knowing it would make headlines however short lived its life. Again, she's still effectively campaigning against electing a Labour government, by doing her best to undermine its leader during an election and picking a fight for the sake of it.
There are many others indulging in similar behaviour. Gone are the days when the party would rally around during the general election itself.
The only interpretation is that Graham, Abbott and the others don't want Starmer to have more than a small majority, in order that the far left can hold the balance of power in parliament. They might as well be in league with the Conservatives. Sadly for them, it looks like being a majority of 100+. Labour will win big despite of them.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Strongly recommend the TrainSplit app. It doesn't charge you for normal tickets, just a "commission" of 10% of the saving if it finds you a cheap deal with split tickets, and it's super easy to use.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
What is the timing for the demise of the Maldives out of interest.
Uninhabitable by the end of the century, most likely. Possibly a bit longer with major sea defences, but those probably won't be economically viable. In the long run, evacuation is the only realistic option.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
1 day after announcing candidacy and a very limited left wing vote? It's going to be close. The big risk for the Tories is if candidates defect an hour before nominations close, which I could see happening.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Ditto. Trainline is a brilliant app. I am happy to give them a couple of quid for all the hassle saved
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Seeing as it couldn't be bought on Trainline (see above) an hour of my time was well spent avoiding travelling without a ticket (I am travelling at 5.13 am before the ticket office is open) and there was no other way of getting a ticket.
Honestly you can't type anything here these days without being put in your place as if you are an idiot.
I'm not an idiot. I do buy online. I also have a station 5 min away and it made obvious sense to go there when there was an obvious problem buying the ticket. That problem continued at the station for an hour while the guy was on the phone trying to sort it.
What smart alec is going to come out with the next suggestion of what I should have done.
Good thing then that the ticket office wasn't closed last year, despite the chorus on PB demanding such an "efficiency".
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Strongly recommend the TrainSplit app. It doesn't charge you for normal tickets, just a "commission" of 10% of the saving if it finds you a cheap deal with split tickets, and it's super easy to use.
The booking fee on Trainline is so trivial it's simply not worth faffing around.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. It did not work. I had to go to the station.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Strongly recommend the TrainSplit app. It doesn't charge you for normal tickets, just a "commission" of 10% of the saving if it finds you a cheap deal with split tickets, and it's super easy to use.
The booking fee on Trainline is so trivial it's simply not worth faffing around.
Aaaaggggggghhhhhhhh. I wasn't faffing around. The bloody ticket wasn't available.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
What is the timing for the demise of the Maldives out of interest.
Uninhabitable by the end of the century, most likely. Possibly a bit longer with major sea defences, but those probably won't be economically viable. In the long run, evacuation is the only realistic option.
Seriously? 80years away, possibly, a country, actually many, many tiny blips in the middle of the ocean a metre or three above sea level will apparently be submerged. At today's level of technological knowhow.
I am failing to be motivated. As is most of the rest of the planet and I can understand why.
Very interesting comment on the local message board:
"I did a market research survey last week on the day NF said he wouldn't be standing which was obviously funded by Reform from the way the parties were placed in the list of parties to choose from for each question. Among other election related questions it asked "would NF make a good leader of Reform?" And "would NF make a good leader of the opposition?", so I've been expecting this."
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
What is the timing for the demise of the Maldives out of interest.
Uninhabitable by the end of the century, most likely. Possibly a bit longer with major sea defences, but those probably won't be economically viable. In the long run, evacuation is the only realistic option.
Seriously? 80years away, possibly, a country, actually many, many tiny blips in the middle of the ocean a metre or three above sea level will apparently be submerged. At today's level of technological knowhow.
I am failing to be motivated. As is most of the rest of the planet and I can understand why.
In Mercury years, presumably. Actually, it's already starting.
The only other contemporary poltiician who has/had this star quality is Boris
My guess is he will indeed win in Clacton if only coz the locals will want the attention and the lolz
Just because people (bloated by press) turn up to hear someone doesn’t mean they will turn up to vote for them. If the people of Clacton do elect him they may end up regretting it and quite possibly rather rapidly. I’m not sure he is going to want to deal with the casework, as an MEP he was docked half his salary to recoup irregularities in his expenses. You can easily see him being disciplined by the chair for refusing to retract unparliamentary language. Deep down he doesn’t want to actually win, as it suits him better to lose narrowly and throw a massive tantrum. Bottom line this is a monumental distraction, the election is about the future direction of the country not future opportunities for Farage to burnish his ego.
1 day after announcing candidacy and a very limited left wing vote? It's going to be close. The big risk for the Tories is if candidates defect an hour before nominations close, which I could see happening.
Can you change your nomination papers once they have been submitted (up until the 4pm deadline I mean)?
So a quick rewrite to say Reform at the last minute?
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
I don’t want to spend the entire day banging on about the most depressing issue in British politics since the war. I’d far rather talk about Ukraine
But just for the record I am not quoting Tommeh I am quoting the LABOUR MP for ROTHERHAM, Sarah Champion. And I have reduced her estimate by a factor of ten!
Sadly; if you extrapolate the numbers of cases and the numbers of victims across the UK a total of 100,000 is absolutely credible indeed likely
And that’s my last word on the subject. Now I’m going to try not to look at this absurdly beautiful Ukrainian woman and instead listen to my audible book about pogroms in the 1920s
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
But I don't think they would predate on the deer enough. We need big predators that would not only cull numbers but change deer behaviour and make them more worried around open spaces and watering holes and such. The issue of deer is not just their numbers, but their grazing habits and the erosion they cause by not really acting in ways they would of when they did have predators. Their numbers alongside this behaviour change is what makes the impact so much worse.
I mean a wolf killing a deer would be a pretty long, drawn out, bloody, and painful affair do you really want to include that one deer rather than a single bullet.
It's not like a pack of hounds killing a fox which was a super efficient means of pest control.
But like I said, this isn't just about culling, it's about changing deer behaviour to be less damaging. Human hunting isn't something that keeps deer on edge and anxious like having natural predators does. Anxiety reduces breeding, reduces congregating in certain spots, makes spooking behaviour more pronounced. Short of sending out people tasked with guns to mow deer down, even if we increase hunting licenses for deer, I don't see human action making enough of a dent.
And the issue with animal suffering and efficiency and such is less to do with the existence of it; nature is, as Darwin noted, cruel and painful and inefficient. But as humans we have created an understanding of morality where we want to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering. To me that includes eating factory farmed meat or the tearing apart of a fox by dogs for the amusement of some toffs. That doesn't preclude me from wanting to bring back extinct predators (to potential benefit of the environment and biodiversity as a whole) if it also helps deal with other man made problems.
If only animals understood irony.
As it was being eaten alive - because that's how it works - the deer could ponder that such a death inflicted upon it was to satisfy your social ethical imperative while dreaming of being killed near-instantly by a pack of hounds or marksman's bullet.
Look, nature tooth and claw. I don't think meat eating is inherently morally wrong as a human - I just think when we can sustain ourselves without harming animals and the method by which we do mass meat farming is contributing to massive deforestation and ecological destruction that it's a bad idea. If you keep chickens in your back garden and decide to eat them when they start getting old, or if you're poor and have no other choice, that's fine.
I'm not an Auditor from the Discworld, demanding that all life stop to preserve order or my idea of what is moral. The natural world is immoral. Humans are able to stand against the pressures of nature in ways basically all other animals cannot, and we have the luxury and capability of developing and acting in moral ways.
"The natural world is immoral." - thats an odd phrase. Wouldn't amoral be a better choice? What does a snake know of morals? Or a lion? Or a fish? Morality is a human construct.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
The features including not being able to promise KJH a ticket that would prevent him being thrown off the train somewhere like Forsinard or Berney Arms at 8pm?
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
I mean that’s just not true. All sensible projections based on agreed measures get you to 2 or 2.5. Even if it was 3, 3 is fine. We’ve averted the truly catastrophic, and actually I think technology will see us do even better.
The point is that nobody actually expects the agreed measures to be implemented. See for example Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video on the topic:
Angela Rayner is the hero of Labour's campaign so far. She's Labour's heart and Sir Keir's it's head. I doubt that was planned by their ad agency but it could hardly have worked out better
I quite like Rayner, she'll provide endless amusement as SKS tries to make it look as he's in charge,
Me too. When they first voted for her i thought they must be high as kites. I mean an ex student of Manchester Metropolitan (blue plaque on it's way) ......The old Regional Art college as was. But they knew what they were doing. She's got more bottle than the rest of the shadow cabinet put together.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
I mean that’s just not true. All sensible projections based on agreed measures get you to 2 or 2.5. Even if it was 3, 3 is fine. We’ve averted the truly catastrophic, and actually I think technology will see us do even better.
The point is that nobody actually expects the agreed measures to be implemented. See for example Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video on the topic:
1 day after announcing candidacy and a very limited left wing vote? It's going to be close. The big risk for the Tories is if candidates defect an hour before nominations close, which I could see happening.
Can you change your nomination papers once they have been submitted (up until the 4pm deadline I mean)?
So a quick rewrite to say Reform at the last minute?
Or do you have to withdraw and resubmit?
Surely not. If you change any details on the nomination papers, those changes must surely have to be countersigned by all the signatories, the proposer and seconder and 10 other signatories that is. Easier and quicker just to resubmit another form and withdraw the original.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
What is the timing for the demise of the Maldives out of interest.
Uninhabitable by the end of the century, most likely. Possibly a bit longer with major sea defences, but those probably won't be economically viable. In the long run, evacuation is the only realistic option.
Its not quite so settled though is it? I thought that some evidence exists of sediment deposition too?
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
The features including not being able to promise KJH a ticket that would prevent him being thrown off the train somewhere like Forsinard or Berney Arms at 8pm?
It's sounds like he has hit some weird fissure in the rail-space continuum, TBF (I don't know the details). But I have used Trainline exclusively for a decade and it's worked perfectly every time.
1 day after announcing candidacy and a very limited left wing vote? It's going to be close. The big risk for the Tories is if candidates defect an hour before nominations close, which I could see happening.
Can you change your nomination papers once they have been submitted (up until the 4pm deadline I mean)?
So a quick rewrite to say Reform at the last minute?
Or do you have to withdraw and resubmit?
Others will know better, but from my reading of the EC website representing a party is a two step process - first you get nominated, then you hand in a form with your party affiliation approved by the party, so I assume step 2 can be re-done.
The only other contemporary poltiician who has/had this star quality is Boris
My guess is he will indeed win in Clacton if only coz the locals will want the attention and the lolz
Just because people (bloated by press) turn up to hear someone doesn’t mean they will turn up to vote for them. If the people of Clacton do elect him they may end up regretting it and quite possibly rather rapidly. I’m not sure he is going to want to deal with the casework, as an MEP he was docked half his salary to recoup irregularities in his expenses. You can easily see him being disciplined by the chair for refusing to retract unparliamentary language. Deep down he doesn’t want to actually win, as it suits him better to lose narrowly and throw a massive tantrum. Bottom line this is a monumental distraction, the election is about the future direction of the country not future opportunities for Farage to burnish his ego.
They're not electing a social worker. What's the downside from having an MP who is able to command national attention?
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
I always go straight to the train companies. Split tickets are easy to calculate just go to Trainline (!) to see where to buy the tickets and then go and buy them directly and they send emails and the tickets are available in the app.
Paying the Trainline fee is not a rational economic act.
Everyone in Britain should just emigrate. Seriously. Whole place is a shithole now and the only tolerable bits are certain nice parts of london and the inner Hebrides
Just get out. It’s ruined. The lefties ruined it
Join me on my endless travels around the world. There is a lot of world out here and it’s fun!
Aberdeenshire. Mild and dry climate with plenty of sunshine (genuinely, ask the Met Office). Fresh air, mountains, cliffs, castles, whisky, long sandy beaches. Farming, fishing, energy, tourism. My own village has a fantastic community spirit, food, shops, events - and easy access to Aberdeen city and the airport.
Despite being there for 15 years I never felt like Teesside was home - it was just where I lived. Aberdeenshire is home. Genuinely love the place.
What about Rochdale? Did that feel like home?
I'm fascinated by the concept of home. I lived in the suburbs of Nottingham for 9 years - it was pleasant, I had good friends there, but it never felt like home. It seems churlish to complain about living too far south when you are only 50 miles south of where you are born, but there you are. But I've also lived in Sheffield and that DID feel like home. My own gwlad - the land which stirs my soul - is quite large. It encompasses almost all of the North West (with the exception of Cumbria west of Scafell, and Crewe), and about two thirds of Yorkshire (with the boundary roughly being the M1 up as far as Tadcaster, and some vague line somewhere in the North York Moors north of that). It doesn't include much of the North East, but does include the western fringes of County Durham and the south western bit of Northumberland (the Pennines, basically). Oh, and the northern half of the Peak District.
I'd then add a tier-2 homeland which I don't feel I'm entitled to but which elictis the same sort of feelings: Western Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Devon, Somerset, the Scottish Borders, the Lothians, Stirlingshire, Perthshire. (I could claim ancestral connections to those areas of Scotland but I could also claim ancestral connections to South East London, and that doesn't feel the same).
There is a danger of course in just saying that places which are nice are those which feel like home. But obviously as @RochdalePioneers points out it's much easier for somewhere to feel like home if it's nice!
Really interesting post.
Britain is very much my home; I love to travel and have indeed travelled reasonably widely, but the cultural and geographical space that is Northern England, most specifically what we inelegantly call 'The M62 Corridor' (it needs a better name, as parts north are distinct); Yorkshire (mostly the traditional West and East Ridings), urban Lancs and the overlapping bits of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Bassetlaw.
My actual home town is Doncaster, but Manchester is definitely my heimat, where I've set roots and started a family.
London, where I lived for a half decade and visit at least once a month, still has a homely, familiar feel to me. Beyond that... maybe Dumfries and Galloway, where I have family and we've holidayed as a family for a decade now.
I have never, will never really understand the whole 'if xx gets elected I'll emigrate' nonsense. Being British, English, northern English and various other categories are both an accident of my birth and integral to who I am. I'm not a flag shagger or poppy fascist, but I am a patriot. I love my country in the way I love my family. I disagree often, I despair sometimes. We have differing ideas about what's best. And I certainly don't feel a need to advertise this complex love, by e.g. standing and singing our boring dirge of a national anthem. I have nothing to prove.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
The inability of Paris to deliver contactless tickets on the Metro is a national shame.
Angela Rayner is the hero of Labour's campaign so far. She's Labour's heart and Sir Keir's it's head. I doubt that was planned by their ad agency but it could hardly have worked out better
I quite like Rayner, she'll provide endless amusement as SKS tries to make it look as he's in charge,
Me too. When they first voted for her i thought they must be high as kites. I mean an ex student od Manchester Metropolitan (blue plaque on it's way) The old Regional Art college as was. But they knew what they werre doing. She's got more bottle than the rest of the shadow cabinet combined.
Well it's girl on girl action this Friday Roger, Rayner versus Mordaunt.
Everyone in Britain should just emigrate. Seriously. Whole place is a shithole now and the only tolerable bits are certain nice parts of london and the inner Hebrides
Just get out. It’s ruined. The lefties ruined it
Join me on my endless travels around the world. There is a lot of world out here and it’s fun!
England is mostly okay outside the crowded south-east.
I thought the only reason the South East was crowded was because it's swamped with people desperate to escape the decaying, crime-ridden, impoverished North.
I don't think I'm being overly parochial to say that the North of England is the most beautiful part not only of England, but of the world. Around 40% of our geography (too keen to make a point to check exact figure) is made up of our four and a half national parks, with a good chunk more being any one of the multiple AONBs.
Without wanting to deride the countryside around the southern half of the M1 and M6, it's not terribly exciting. But it's most northerners idea of what the south looks like (also a noisy traffic jam across Bromford Viaduct.)
You are very balanced and quite right. And there is more. In Cumbria there is huge joy to be had entirely outside the national park areas, and it is mostly empty. Visited Long Meg (not in a national park) recently with no-one there at all, one of the great numinous neolithic sites. Free. Almost no signposts. No fences. No barriers. No-one cares. It's part of a real working farm.
M1 and M6 not the greatest approach to London. Go A1 instead, and then you can stop off in Lincolnshire, no national park, a bit of AONB, have it completely to yourself (more noom than the whole of France) and change your mind about going to London.
Being analytical, objective and data-based, and wearing my Derbyshire, not Nottinghamshire, hat - I'm waiting for a hill to appear in the Surrey Hills.
The last I heard, they had to build a tower on the highest point to get it over 1000 feet.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
I always go straight to the train companies. Split tickets are easy to calculate just go to Trainline (!) to see where to buy the tickets and then go and buy them directly and they send emails and the tickets are available in the app.
Paying the Trainline fee is not a rational economic act.
It is because the cost of the booking fee < the cost of my time.
Prospect raised above of Tory candidate defections to Reform.
The point has been rightfully made that the best time to do this if you are a current Tory candidate is surely Friday, so that the Tories don’t have time to nominate another candidate in your place before nominations close.
It also gives Reform a huge boost ahead of the Farage appearance in the 7-way debate on Friday.
Will we see a mass defection? Perhaps not. But we will surely see at least one.
The momentum may pick up if Sunak does poorly if tonight’s debate and some scared Tories get itchy feet.
I think there are still value bets in a big defection this week and proxy bets accordingly.
The only other contemporary poltiician who has/had this star quality is Boris
My guess is he will indeed win in Clacton if only coz the locals will want the attention and the lolz
Just because people (bloated by press) turn up to hear someone doesn’t mean they will turn up to vote for them. If the people of Clacton do elect him they may end up regretting it and quite possibly rather rapidly. I’m not sure he is going to want to deal with the casework, as an MEP he was docked half his salary to recoup irregularities in his expenses. You can easily see him being disciplined by the chair for refusing to retract unparliamentary language. Deep down he doesn’t want to actually win, as it suits him better to lose narrowly and throw a massive tantrum. Bottom line this is a monumental distraction, the election is about the future direction of the country not future opportunities for Farage to burnish his ego.
They're not electing a social worker. What's the downside from having an MP who is able to command national attention?
If that MP uses the national attention to focus relentlessly on local issues of concern, then no problem. However that isn’t what is going to occur. He isn’t there in order to represent the people of Clacton, he’s there so the people of Clacton can represent his validation. It won’t work out well for either of them.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
The inability of Paris to deliver contactless tickets on the Metro is a national shame.
There usually a funky back-story to these. Perhaps it’s the guy who owns the paper mill paying for the mayor’s re-election, or a union boss getting a kickback from the ticket machine supplier.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
I always go straight to the train companies. Split tickets are easy to calculate just go to Trainline (!) to see where to buy the tickets and then go and buy them directly and they send emails and the tickets are available in the app.
Paying the Trainline fee is not a rational economic act.
It is because the cost of the booking fee < the cost of my time.
Fair enough. £300/hr seems a reasonable enough rate to me but each to their own.
Edit: if you are doing different journeys each time. For the same journey five times that would be £1,500/hr which should put you as lead counsel to the PO Inquiry.
1 day after announcing candidacy and a very limited left wing vote? It's going to be close. The big risk for the Tories is if candidates defect an hour before nominations close, which I could see happening.
Can you change your nomination papers once they have been submitted (up until the 4pm deadline I mean)?
So a quick rewrite to say Reform at the last minute?
Or do you have to withdraw and resubmit?
Others will know better, but from my reading of the EC website representing a party is a two step process - first you get nominated, then you hand in a form with your party affiliation approved by the party, so I assume step 2 can be re-done.
If you are standing for a party you must provide a certificate of authority from said party. Nomination papers will probably be handed in by party officials to stop any shenanigans. The Returning Officer has the right to reject any nomination that they feel is clearly a sham /scam and knowingly providing false info is a criminal offence - this would include deliberately misleading your nominators
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
Yes, it's another step in the process of civilisation. Once upon a time animal torture was regarded as acceptable, but nowadays people aren't so keen. Long may the trend continue.
Except for deer.
Yeah - I'm a veggie but we do need to cull wild deer in this country. Personally I'd like to see this happen by bringing back predator species, because wolves and bears are cool, but failing that letting people eat deer is reasonable.
Moggies first. The medium-sized cat predators are much less scary and threatening than wolves and bears.
But I don't think they would predate on the deer enough. We need big predators that would not only cull numbers but change deer behaviour and make them more worried around open spaces and watering holes and such. The issue of deer is not just their numbers, but their grazing habits and the erosion they cause by not really acting in ways they would of when they did have predators. Their numbers alongside this behaviour change is what makes the impact so much worse.
I mean a wolf killing a deer would be a pretty long, drawn out, bloody, and painful affair do you really want to include that one deer rather than a single bullet.
It's not like a pack of hounds killing a fox which was a super efficient means of pest control.
But like I said, this isn't just about culling, it's about changing deer behaviour to be less damaging. Human hunting isn't something that keeps deer on edge and anxious like having natural predators does. Anxiety reduces breeding, reduces congregating in certain spots, makes spooking behaviour more pronounced. Short of sending out people tasked with guns to mow deer down, even if we increase hunting licenses for deer, I don't see human action making enough of a dent.
And the issue with animal suffering and efficiency and such is less to do with the existence of it; nature is, as Darwin noted, cruel and painful and inefficient. But as humans we have created an understanding of morality where we want to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering. To me that includes eating factory farmed meat or the tearing apart of a fox by dogs for the amusement of some toffs. That doesn't preclude me from wanting to bring back extinct predators (to potential benefit of the environment and biodiversity as a whole) if it also helps deal with other man made problems.
If only animals understood irony.
As it was being eaten alive - because that's how it works - the deer could ponder that such a death inflicted upon it was to satisfy your social ethical imperative while dreaming of being killed near-instantly by a pack of hounds or marksman's bullet.
Look, nature tooth and claw. I don't think meat eating is inherently morally wrong as a human - I just think when we can sustain ourselves without harming animals and the method by which we do mass meat farming is contributing to massive deforestation and ecological destruction that it's a bad idea. If you keep chickens in your back garden and decide to eat them when they start getting old, or if you're poor and have no other choice, that's fine.
I'm not an Auditor from the Discworld, demanding that all life stop to preserve order or my idea of what is moral. The natural world is immoral. Humans are able to stand against the pressures of nature in ways basically all other animals cannot, and we have the luxury and capability of developing and acting in moral ways.
"The natural world is immoral." - thats an odd phrase. Wouldn't amoral be a better choice? What does a snake know of morals? Or a lion? Or a fish? Morality is a human construct.
I mean, yes that is probably more apt. But I was thinking more on this quote from Unseen Academicals (in part, I'm sure, inspired by Darwin's own writings on wasps and caterpillars)
The Patrician took a sip of his beer. “I have told this to few people, gentlemen, and I suspect I never will again, but one day when I was a young boy on holiday in Uberwald I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. A very endearing sight, I’m sure you will agree, and even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged on to a half-submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature’s wonders, gentlemen: mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that’s when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.”
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
I'm sure you are just trying to wind me up @leon but it should not have been challenging. It was a straightforward journey. It was just a glitch of some sort involving the combinations involved. The ticket could not be bought online nor at the ticket office. But at the ticket office there is a man with a phone who does something about it.
It was just one of those unlucky things that could happen to anyone on any mundane journey. The pricing structure here is just to complicated that the simple combination I had fell through the cracks.
Train is the only option I have because I will be on a bike.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Given there are a ton of other online vendors who don't charge a fee for the same service, it's not a "save time or pay" question, in my view...
Do they automatically send a QR ticket to your Apple Wallet and are perfectly integrated with your watch too, and give real-time updates and basically every other brilliantly coded feature that Trainline has?
I always go straight to the train companies. Split tickets are easy to calculate just go to Trainline (!) to see where to buy the tickets and then go and buy them directly and they send emails and the tickets are available in the app.
Paying the Trainline fee is not a rational economic act.
It is because the cost of the booking fee < the cost of my time.
Fair enough. £300/hr seems a reasonable enough rate to me but each to their own.
Edit: if you are doing different journeys each time. For the same journey five times that would be £1,500/hr which should put you as lead counsel to the PO Inquiry.
Yeah, different journeys. I wouldn't repeat it for the same route, same time – that would indeed be silly!
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
I mean that’s just not true. All sensible projections based on agreed measures get you to 2 or 2.5. Even if it was 3, 3 is fine. We’ve averted the truly catastrophic, and actually I think technology will see us do even better.
The point is that nobody actually expects the agreed measures to be implemented. See for example Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video on the topic:
This will ultimately result in many metres of sea level rise.
Eh? You might not but I broadly would, or their equivalents at least.
If you don’t think agreed measures via the COP process will be implemented then might as well all give up and go home. And the U.K., in particular, is small enough to conclude it might as well switch to coal and be a rounding error in the figures.
We don’t do that, because we want to lead and get those measures embedded.
Prospect raised above of Tory candidate defections to Reform.
The point has been rightfully made that the best time to do this if you are a current Tory candidate is surely Friday, so that the Tories don’t have time to nominate another candidate in your place before nominations close.
It also gives Reform a huge boost ahead of the Farage appearance in the 7-way debate on Friday.
Will we see a mass defection? Perhaps not. But we will surely see at least one.
The momentum may pick up if Sunak does poorly if tonight’s debate and some scared Tories get itchy feet.
I think there are still value bets in a big defection this week and proxy bets accordingly.
This is doable, with some subterfuge 1. Be on go slow with your Tory agent with regards to signing the paperwork 2. Get signing the RefUK paperwork on the sly and get it checked by the LA election officials 3. Go AWOL when the Tory agent is demanding an immediate signature as "you're going to miss the deadline"
Result? Tory candidate is reborn as a Reform candidate, no Tory on the ballot.
Do we have any Tory candidates in mind for such shenanigans?
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
I'm sure you are just trying to wind me up @leon but it should not have been challenging. It was a straightforward journey. It was just a glitch of some sort involving the combinations involved. The ticket could not be bought online nor at the ticket office. But at the ticket office there is a man with a phone who does something about it.
It was just one of those unlucky things that could happen to anyone on any mundane journey. The pricing structure here is just to complicated that the simple combination I had fell through the cracks.
Train is the only option I have because I will be on a bike.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
I mean that’s just not true. All sensible projections based on agreed measures get you to 2 or 2.5. Even if it was 3, 3 is fine. We’ve averted the truly catastrophic, and actually I think technology will see us do even better.
The point is that nobody actually expects the agreed measures to be implemented. See for example Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video on the topic:
This will ultimately result in many metres of sea level rise.
Maybe. Sea level has risen 6-8 inches over the past 100 years, hasn't it?
Yes, but the point is that it is accelerating as the temperature rises and the ice melts faster.
We know that the sea level in the last interglacial period was around 6 meters higher than it is today, so it seems likely that this is the kind of rise to expect as the Earth warms again to those sort of temperatures. It takes a long time for that ice to melt, so sea level rise obviously lags behind the temperature rise. Even if we were to achieve net zero today, the sea level would continue rising for centuries to come.
The only other contemporary poltiician who has/had this star quality is Boris
My guess is he will indeed win in Clacton if only coz the locals will want the attention and the lolz
Just because people (bloated by press) turn up to hear someone doesn’t mean they will turn up to vote for them. If the people of Clacton do elect him they may end up regretting it and quite possibly rather rapidly. I’m not sure he is going to want to deal with the casework, as an MEP he was docked half his salary to recoup irregularities in his expenses. You can easily see him being disciplined by the chair for refusing to retract unparliamentary language. Deep down he doesn’t want to actually win, as it suits him better to lose narrowly and throw a massive tantrum. Bottom line this is a monumental distraction, the election is about the future direction of the country not future opportunities for Farage to burnish his ego.
Sorry but this sounds precisely like the stuff that was on here prior to Rochdale. Farage is clearly taking Clacton.
It’s not a good sign if candidates are abandoning the fight whatever the reasons. Suggests that not everything will be plain sailing on the good ship Starmer.
Paper candidate in an unwinnable seat, Lib Dem Gain I reckon, for Witney.
Witney could have been a stretch target for Labour - they've come second a couple of times and the incumbent Tory is not liked. But the LibDems are throwing a lot at it.
Labour have a couple of really obvious candidates locally - I'm surprised that neither of them stood for the selection.
Prospect raised above of Tory candidate defections to Reform.
The point has been rightfully made that the best time to do this if you are a current Tory candidate is surely Friday, so that the Tories don’t have time to nominate another candidate in your place before nominations close.
It also gives Reform a huge boost ahead of the Farage appearance in the 7-way debate on Friday.
Will we see a mass defection? Perhaps not. But we will surely see at least one.
The momentum may pick up if Sunak does poorly if tonight’s debate and some scared Tories get itchy feet.
I think there are still value bets in a big defection this week and proxy bets accordingly.
This is doable, with some subterfuge 1. Be on go slow with your Tory agent with regards to signing the paperwork 2. Get signing the RefUK paperwork on the sly and get it checked by the LA election officials 3. Go AWOL when the Tory agent is demanding an immediate signature as "you're going to miss the deadline"
Result? Tory candidate is reborn as a Reform candidate, no Tory on the ballot.
Do we have any Tory candidates in mind for such shenanigans?
Thank you - good to hear from someone who has knowledge of the process! I assume the traditional way of withdrawing and submitting new nominations would also work?
People like Nick Fletcher (Don Valley & he's very right wing with no chance of being returned) would be my guess alongside maybe people in the NE & Barnsley.
It’s not a good sign if candidates are abandoning the fight whatever the reasons. Suggests that not everything will be plain sailing on the good ship Starmer.
Paper candidate in an unwinnable seat, Lib Dem Gain I reckon, for Witney.
Witney could have been a stretch target for Labour - they've come second a couple of times and the incumbent Tory is not liked. But the LibDems are throwing a lot at it.
Labour have a couple of really obvious candidates locally - I'm surprised that neither of them stood for the selection.
Labour have deliberately backed off the seat because they think the Liberals are better placed to take it. There is a lot of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" going on, very wisely. One possible outcome is the Liberals significantly overperforming under FPP as they would under PR*, which would be great for the lolz.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Ditto. Trainline is a brilliant app. I am happy to give them a couple of quid for all the hassle saved
The individual train company websites are so painful to use. Every problem possible seems to happen. By contrast you can do the whole thing in 20 seconds on the trainline app.
It’s not a good sign if candidates are abandoning the fight whatever the reasons. Suggests that not everything will be plain sailing on the good ship Starmer.
I'd not read too much into this. She was a paper candidate in a safe Conservative seat, David Cameron's old constituency. Except now, with current polling, there is a real risk she might actually win in, well, exactly one month from today. We've seen this before in landslides, where paper candidates get elected and then need to rush round to close down their old lives, resign from work or even close down their old businesses.
Everyone in Britain should just emigrate. Seriously. Whole place is a shithole now and the only tolerable bits are certain nice parts of london and the inner Hebrides
Just get out. It’s ruined. The lefties ruined it
Join me on my endless travels around the world. There is a lot of world out here and it’s fun!
Aberdeenshire. Mild and dry climate with plenty of sunshine (genuinely, ask the Met Office). Fresh air, mountains, cliffs, castles, whisky, long sandy beaches. Farming, fishing, energy, tourism. My own village has a fantastic community spirit, food, shops, events - and easy access to Aberdeen city and the airport.
Despite being there for 15 years I never felt like Teesside was home - it was just where I lived. Aberdeenshire is home. Genuinely love the place.
What about Rochdale? Did that feel like home?
I'm fascinated by the concept of home. I lived in the suburbs of Nottingham for 9 years - it was pleasant, I had good friends there, but it never felt like home. It seems churlish to complain about living too far south when you are only 50 miles south of where you are born, but there you are. But I've also lived in Sheffield and that DID feel like home. My own gwlad - the land which stirs my soul - is quite large. It encompasses almost all of the North West (with the exception of Cumbria west of Scafell, and Crewe), and about two thirds of Yorkshire (with the boundary roughly being the M1 up as far as Tadcaster, and some vague line somewhere in the North York Moors north of that). It doesn't include much of the North East, but does include the western fringes of County Durham and the south western bit of Northumberland (the Pennines, basically). Oh, and the northern half of the Peak District.
I'd then add a tier-2 homeland which I don't feel I'm entitled to but which elictis the same sort of feelings: Western Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Devon, Somerset, the Scottish Borders, the Lothians, Stirlingshire, Perthshire. (I could claim ancestral connections to those areas of Scotland but I could also claim ancestral connections to South East London, and that doesn't feel the same).
There is a danger of course in just saying that places which are nice are those which feel like home. But obviously as @RochdalePioneers points out it's much easier for somewhere to feel like home if it's nice!
Really interesting post.
Britain is very much my home; I love to travel and have indeed travelled reasonably widely, but the cultural and geographical space that is Northern England, most specifically what we inelegantly call 'The M62 Corridor' (it needs a better name, as parts north are distinct); Yorkshire (mostly the traditional West and East Ridings), urban Lancs and the overlapping bits of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Bassetlaw.
My actual home town is Doncaster, but Manchester is definitely my heimat, where I've set roots and started a family.
London, where I lived for a half decade and visit at least once a month, still has a homely, familiar feel to me. Beyond that... maybe Dumfries and Galloway, where I have family and we've holidayed as a family for a decade now.
I have never, will never really understand the whole 'if xx gets elected I'll emigrate' nonsense. Being British, English, northern English and various other categories are both an accident of my birth and integral to who I am. I'm not a flag shagger or poppy fascist, but I am a patriot. I love my country in the way I love my family. I disagree often, I despair sometimes. We have differing ideas about what's best. And I certainly don't feel a need to advertise this complex love, by e.g. standing and singing our boring dirge of a national anthem. I have nothing to prove.
I travel so much I’m not sure I have a home. But if I do I have quite a few around the world, and they are specific
Cornwall, especially the creekside church of St Clement near Truro, and the idyllic waterside footpath to Malpas
London. But not all of London. No no. West and south london feel like the prairies or eastern Poland. Vast areas of occasional interest but certainly not home. London for me is a stretch of central london going from the Groucho club up through Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury to through Regent’s Park to Camden, Primrose Hill, Belsize Park and Hampstead. Ends abruptly at kenwood
Gobekli Tepe and the Tas Tepeler
The deserts of the USA especially around Moab in southern Utah
Sois 4-8 in Khlong toei in Bangkok
San Pedro de atacama
POSSIBLY bassac lane in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
These are places I feel instantly relaxed. Chilled. Peaceful. Yet also somehow energised. Home
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
I always buy a paper ticket for the tube when I'm in London because it's the only way to avoid being fined if you spend more than about 80 minutes in the system without touching out.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Ditto. Trainline is a brilliant app. I am happy to give them a couple of quid for all the hassle saved
The individual train company websites are so painful to use. Every problem possible seems to happen. By contrast you can do the whole thing in 20 seconds on the trainline app.
The virgin one is great - as smooth as trainline and usually run 7% cashback.
That’s what happens in sw France . I have tried the pate , and delicious it is with a sweet wine , lots of crusty bread and a nice onion chutney .
It’s quite rich and I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I didn’t have it again but if you eat meat I don’t think you can moralize too much about people eating it.
Bar Boulud at the Madarin Oriental used to do a burger with a layer of foie gras within. It was exceptional.
I dislike animal cruelty and usually buy higher welfare products, but on foie gras I am a massive hypocrite because it’s so damn tasty.
I’ve never eaten the liver cooked only had the pate but I can imagine it would be lovely on a burger. I wouldn’t worry about the hypocrite bit , we’re all guilty of that at times with the things we eat, or where we shop etc .
I think this tends to be the missing bit in political messaging about stuff like climate change. People respond much more to “do your best but no one is perfect”.
The problem is that what people think is their best is nowhere near good enough to be effective. People respond considerably better in terms of actual behaviour when bad stuff is taxed sufficiently to make it an occasional luxury, but good luck getting elected on that platform.
Well yes, exactly. I have this argument with younger relatives all the time. It’s all very well to take a full on “Thunberg” position, but you’ll never get elected; and if you do then you won’t get reelected and it’ll be reversed.
Democracy = pragmatism.
Which means we're probably fucked unless some sort of global eco-dictatorship can be established.
Nah, on that subject we just accept 2-2.5 degrees of warming based on current policies plus improved technology. Which is fine, unless you live in the Maldives or similar places, and we can help them.
We’ve fixed global warming.
Er, no, we really haven't. Thus far we have made virtually no impact whatsoever on the rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and are currently heading for at least 3 degrees of warming. The Maldives are already doomed, but so too are large areas of coastal plains around the world, not to mention those areas that will be made uninhabitable by heat and shifts in weather patterns. None of this will be fixed by imploring people to "do their best".
I mean that’s just not true. All sensible projections based on agreed measures get you to 2 or 2.5. Even if it was 3, 3 is fine. We’ve averted the truly catastrophic, and actually I think technology will see us do even better.
The point is that nobody actually expects the agreed measures to be implemented. See for example Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video on the topic:
This will ultimately result in many metres of sea level rise.
Maybe. Sea level has risen 6-8 inches over the past 100 years, hasn't it?
Yes, but the point is that it is accelerating as the temperature rises and the ice melts faster.
We know that the sea level in the last interglacial period was around 6 meters higher than it is today, so it seems likely that this is the kind of rise to expect as the Earth warms again to those sort of temperatures. It takes a long time for that ice to melt, so sea level rise obviously lags behind the temperature rise. Even if we were to achieve net zero today, the sea level would continue rising for centuries to come.
Sure but what time period. You said "many metres of sea level rise".
Plus "in the last interglacial". The one 12,000 years ago?
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Ditto. Trainline is a brilliant app. I am happy to give them a couple of quid for all the hassle saved
The individual train company websites are so painful to use. Every problem possible seems to happen. By contrast you can do the whole thing in 20 seconds on the trainline app.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
I'm sure you are just trying to wind me up @leon but it should not have been challenging. It was a straightforward journey. It was just a glitch of some sort involving the combinations involved. The ticket could not be bought online nor at the ticket office. But at the ticket office there is a man with a phone who does something about it.
It was just one of those unlucky things that could happen to anyone on any mundane journey. The pricing structure here is just to complicated that the simple combination I had fell through the cracks.
Train is the only option I have because I will be on a bike.
WHAT WAS THE JOURNEY
As I think kjh said he was cycling somewhere exotic, I would guess it is a CIV ticket to London International which indeed can't usually be bought online, as they can ask to see your Eurostar ticket
Prospect raised above of Tory candidate defections to Reform.
The point has been rightfully made that the best time to do this if you are a current Tory candidate is surely Friday, so that the Tories don’t have time to nominate another candidate in your place before nominations close.
It also gives Reform a huge boost ahead of the Farage appearance in the 7-way debate on Friday.
Will we see a mass defection? Perhaps not. But we will surely see at least one.
The momentum may pick up if Sunak does poorly if tonight’s debate and some scared Tories get itchy feet.
I think there are still value bets in a big defection this week and proxy bets accordingly.
This is doable, with some subterfuge 1. Be on go slow with your Tory agent with regards to signing the paperwork 2. Get signing the RefUK paperwork on the sly and get it checked by the LA election officials 3. Go AWOL when the Tory agent is demanding an immediate signature as "you're going to miss the deadline"
Result? Tory candidate is reborn as a Reform candidate, no Tory on the ballot.
Do we have any Tory candidates in mind for such shenanigans?
There was a list circulating earlier of 60 seats where Reform had yet to declare candidates I think - and a lot of them had potentially sympathetic Tories. I really think that something major might be in the offing.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
I always buy a paper ticket for the tube when I'm in London because it's the only way to avoid being fined if you spend more than about 80 minutes in the system without touching out.
I live here and haven't used a paper ticket or been fined... since time immemorial. It's all contactless by phone now. Paper is for tourists, a waste of money, and should be abolished.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Ditto. Trainline is a brilliant app. I am happy to give them a couple of quid for all the hassle saved
The individual train company websites are so painful to use. Every problem possible seems to happen. By contrast you can do the whole thing in 20 seconds on the trainline app.
Rubbish they are all super-efficient. Probably user error.
Just spent over an hour trying to buy a train ticket at the station (good job it was for tomorrow). I seem to have broken the system. It is not like it was complicated. A to B with 2 senior railcards.
Use the Trainline app – far easier than paper tickets.
Trainline charge and both Journey Planner and Trainline got it wrong as well. None could decide what to charge me. The problem was repeated at the station, but the guy made a very very very long phone call.
All too complicated.
Trainline charged me £2.49 extra fee recently for 2 tickets purchased online. How much do you value an hour of your time?
Well exactly, and they automatically split the tickets without your needing to research it, which usually saves more than the booking fee. I use nothing else, and I travel by rail a lot.
Read the fucking posts. I am getting really annoyed now. I COULD NOT BUY IT ONLINE. IT did not work. I had to go to the stration.
Some folk do develop a certain agnosia. But I've never come across this. Shame Charcot is dead, likewise Oliver Sacks - he could have made an interesting chapter out of PB.
I need to calm down. I like these posters, but it does make me wonder if I am posting in an alien language.
The answer is surely to never take a train journey where you can’t buy an online ticket
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
I'm sure you are just trying to wind me up @leon but it should not have been challenging. It was a straightforward journey. It was just a glitch of some sort involving the combinations involved. The ticket could not be bought online nor at the ticket office. But at the ticket office there is a man with a phone who does something about it.
It was just one of those unlucky things that could happen to anyone on any mundane journey. The pricing structure here is just to complicated that the simple combination I had fell through the cracks.
Train is the only option I have because I will be on a bike.
WHAT WAS THE JOURNEY
Hi @Topping. I'm not going to get into this because I can't believe the comments it stirred up already over such an insignificant story of me complaining that the rail fare set up we have here is far too complicated, which I think everyone accepts.
Just to say it was not a complicated journey (4 trains, 3 changes) but the time combinations and going in and out of London across peak/off peak times with a Senior Railcard made smoke come out of the machine. It wasn't an online failure but a failure of the system not being able to handle the combination, which to be honest wasn't that unrealistic. The system either couldn't produce a price or came up with a random price. Needless to say the highest price is the one everyone settled on.
The only other contemporary poltiician who has/had this star quality is Boris
My guess is he will indeed win in Clacton if only coz the locals will want the attention and the lolz
Just because people (bloated by press) turn up to hear someone doesn’t mean they will turn up to vote for them. If the people of Clacton do elect him they may end up regretting it and quite possibly rather rapidly. I’m not sure he is going to want to deal with the casework, as an MEP he was docked half his salary to recoup irregularities in his expenses. You can easily see him being disciplined by the chair for refusing to retract unparliamentary language. Deep down he doesn’t want to actually win, as it suits him better to lose narrowly and throw a massive tantrum. Bottom line this is a monumental distraction, the election is about the future direction of the country not future opportunities for Farage to burnish his ego.
They're not electing a social worker. What's the downside from having an MP who is able to command national attention?
Regular visits from trainee politicians and/or political journalists seeking stories?
Comments
In one case a step-father (I think it was) was told by the police that if he continued with the allegations, he would be put on a register of racists, then the council would use the anti-social neighbours rules to have his family thrown out of their council house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bahJ1eVOELY
The only other contemporary poltiician who has/had this star quality is Boris
My guess is he will indeed win in Clacton if only coz the locals will want the attention and the lolz
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Jingo_Linx?file=Timewarrior_title.jpg
https://x.com/scottygb/status/1797934539052040466
Is @Essexit still on this forum? I wonder if he'll be voting for them.
@OwenJones84
·
1h
I tried to have a little chat with Labour's Shadow Cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire in Bristol Central.
It didn't go very well.
https://x.com/OwenJones84/status/1797941391852527888
Honestly you can't type anything here these days without being put in your place as if you are an idiot.
I'm not an idiot. I do buy online. I also have a station 5 min away and it made obvious sense to go there when there was an obvious problem buying the ticket. That problem continued at the station for an hour while the guy was on the phone trying to sort it.
What smart alec is going to come out with the next suggestion of what I should have done.
Edit: and he also refuses to use punctuation. Which is even worse.
Likewise I don't mind Abbott being confirmed as a candidate, in fact I welcome it because proper process matters. It should have been the end of the matter. But no, then Abbott can't help herself and posts her "Starmer lies again" tweet, knowing it would make headlines however short lived its life. Again, she's still effectively campaigning against electing a Labour government, by doing her best to undermine its leader during an election and picking a fight for the sake of it.
There are many others indulging in similar behaviour. Gone are the days when the party would rally around during the general election itself.
The only interpretation is that Graham, Abbott and the others don't want Starmer to have more than a small majority, in order that the far left can hold the balance of power in parliament. They might as well be in league with the Conservatives. Sadly for them, it looks like being a majority of 100+. Labour will win big despite of them.
https://apnews.com/article/maldives-israel-gaza-war-71d3b17d46dbcf9c06ba6c642763f36d
And the final sequence of the picnic and the crosses on the Downs can reduce me to pathetic tears even on the twentieth viewing
But seems likely to go Farage - it was UKIP under Carswell for a while.
However, I am on tories there at 4 - as this seems a tad of value.
I am failing to be motivated. As is most of the rest of the planet and I can understand why.
"I did a market research survey last week on the day NF said he wouldn't be standing which was obviously funded by Reform from the way the parties were placed in the list of parties to choose from for each question. Among other election related questions it asked "would NF make a good leader of Reform?" And "would NF make a good leader of the opposition?", so I've been expecting this."
So a quick rewrite to say Reform at the last minute?
Or do you have to withdraw and resubmit?
But just for the record I am not quoting Tommeh I am quoting the LABOUR MP for ROTHERHAM, Sarah Champion. And I have reduced her estimate by a factor of ten!
Sadly; if you extrapolate the numbers of cases and the numbers of victims across the UK a total of 100,000 is absolutely credible indeed likely
And that’s my last word on the subject. Now I’m going to try not to look at this absurdly beautiful Ukrainian woman and instead listen to my audible book about pogroms in the 1920s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaaJqPCjNr4
This will ultimately result in many metres of sea level rise.
Lab 45 (+3 since Jan)
Con 18 (-2)
Ref 13
PC 12
LD 4 I think or 5
I mean even this bus from Moldova to Ukraine IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR had an easy online ticketing system
Paying the Trainline fee is not a rational economic act.
Britain is very much my home; I love to travel and have indeed travelled reasonably widely, but the cultural and geographical space that is Northern England, most specifically what we inelegantly call 'The M62 Corridor' (it needs a better name, as parts north are distinct); Yorkshire (mostly the traditional West and East Ridings), urban Lancs and the overlapping bits of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Bassetlaw.
My actual home town is Doncaster, but Manchester is definitely my heimat, where I've set roots and started a family.
London, where I lived for a half decade and visit at least once a month, still has a homely, familiar feel to me. Beyond that... maybe Dumfries and Galloway, where I have family and we've holidayed as a family for a decade now.
I have never, will never really understand the whole 'if xx gets elected I'll emigrate' nonsense. Being British, English, northern English and various other categories are both an accident of my birth and integral to who I am. I'm not a flag shagger or poppy fascist, but I am a patriot. I love my country in the way I love my family. I disagree often, I despair sometimes. We have differing ideas about what's best. And I certainly don't feel a need to advertise this complex love, by e.g. standing and singing our boring dirge of a national anthem. I have nothing to prove.
It will beat the snoozefest tonight
Can't say I'm sorry about that although I hold no candle for Congress either.
The last I heard, they had to build a tower on the highest point to get it over 1000 feet.
(Runs and hides)
The point has been rightfully made that the best time to do this if you are a current Tory candidate is surely Friday, so that the Tories don’t have time to nominate another candidate in your place before nominations close.
It also gives Reform a huge boost ahead of the Farage appearance in the 7-way debate on Friday.
Will we see a mass defection? Perhaps not. But we will surely see at least one.
The momentum may pick up if Sunak does poorly if tonight’s debate and some scared Tories get itchy feet.
I think there are still value bets in a big defection this week and proxy bets accordingly.
RefUK will help the Tories get absolutely demolished
The Tory MPs left will be Faragista
Tory members are already Faragista
Farage as the next Tory leader? Doable.
Edit: if you are doing different journeys each time. For the same journey five times that would be £1,500/hr which should put you as lead counsel to the PO Inquiry.
The Patrician took a sip of his beer. “I have told this to few people, gentlemen, and I suspect I never will again, but one day when I was a young boy on holiday in Uberwald I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. A very endearing sight, I’m sure you will agree, and even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged on to a half-submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature’s wonders, gentlemen: mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that’s when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.”
It was just one of those unlucky things that could happen to anyone on any mundane journey. The pricing structure here is just to complicated that the simple combination I had fell through the cracks.
Train is the only option I have because I will be on a bike.
If you don’t think agreed measures via the COP process will be implemented then might as well all give up and go home. And the U.K., in particular, is small enough to conclude it might as well switch to coal and be a rounding error in the figures.
We don’t do that, because we want to lead and get those measures embedded.
1. Be on go slow with your Tory agent with regards to signing the paperwork
2. Get signing the RefUK paperwork on the sly and get it checked by the LA election officials
3. Go AWOL when the Tory agent is demanding an immediate signature as "you're going to miss the deadline"
Result? Tory candidate is reborn as a Reform candidate, no Tory on the ballot.
Do we have any Tory candidates in mind for such shenanigans?
But good for my wallet as I am on at 55/1
We know that the sea level in the last interglacial period was around 6 meters higher than it is today, so it seems likely that this is the kind of rise to expect as the Earth warms again to those sort of temperatures. It takes a long time for that ice to melt, so sea level rise obviously lags behind the temperature rise. Even if we were to achieve net zero today, the sea level would continue rising for centuries to come.
Labour have a couple of really obvious candidates locally - I'm surprised that neither of them stood for the selection.
People like Nick Fletcher (Don Valley & he's very right wing with no chance of being returned) would be my guess alongside maybe people in the NE & Barnsley.
(*as yesterday's MRP showed).
Cornwall, especially the creekside church of St Clement near Truro, and the idyllic waterside footpath to Malpas
London. But not all of London. No no. West and south london feel like the prairies or eastern Poland. Vast areas of occasional interest but certainly not home. London for me is a stretch of central london going from the Groucho club up through Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury to through Regent’s Park to Camden, Primrose Hill, Belsize Park and Hampstead. Ends abruptly at kenwood
Gobekli Tepe and the Tas Tepeler
The deserts of the USA especially around Moab in southern Utah
Sois 4-8 in Khlong toei in Bangkok
San Pedro de atacama
POSSIBLY bassac lane in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
These are places I feel instantly relaxed. Chilled. Peaceful. Yet also somehow energised. Home
Plus "in the last interglacial". The one 12,000 years ago?
And the beaches and river systems north of Sydney
As a stunt, Ed Davey should have sat in a pool of his own piss all day.
Just to say it was not a complicated journey (4 trains, 3 changes) but the time combinations and going in and out of London across peak/off peak times with a Senior Railcard made smoke come out of the machine. It wasn't an online failure but a failure of the system not being able to handle the combination, which to be honest wasn't that unrealistic. The system either couldn't produce a price or came up with a random price. Needless to say the highest price is the one everyone settled on.